The top state primary school in the country has banned girls under eight from wearing hijabs as well as fasting among young pupils. St Stephen's primary school has called on the government to take a firm stand and follow suit rather than leaving schools to create their own rules.

The school in Newham, east London, has demanded that parents don't allow their children to fast throughout the school day during Ramadan - when pupils will have to sit summer exams. The chairman of governors at St Stephen's, Arif Qawi, has proposed that the Department for Education should 'step up and take it out of our hands'.

He added: 'We did not ban fasting altogether but we encouraged them [children] to fast in holidays, at weekends and not on the school campus. Here we are responsible for their health and safety if they pass out on campus. It is not fair to us.'

Mr Qawi annouced that he had spoken to Muslim clerics who told him that boys should fast from puberty.

However some children at St Stephen's were fasting from the age of eight or nine which Mr Qawi said just seemed wrong.

He said: 'It is unfair to teachers and very unfair to governors. We are unpaid. Why should we get the backlash?'

Headmistress of St Stephen's, Neena Lall, backed the change in a bid to make the pupils feel more integrated into the school.

She recalled asking the children a couple of years ago to put their hand up if they thought they were British, and very few did.

Although it is mostly as an optional item a survey of 800 primary schools found that nearly 20 per cent of them list the hijab as part of their uniform for children aged four to eleven.

A campaign led by Amina Lone , of the Social Action and Research Foundation, is fighting for young Muslim girls not to have to wear the hijab in primary schools.

The Department for Education said: 'It is a matter for individual schools to decide how to accommodate children observing Ramadan, and to set uniform policies. We issue clear guidance on uniform and to help schools understand their legal duties under the Equality Act.'

According to Mr Qawi apart from a few exceptions most of the parents were happy with the school's stance on fasting.

He said that their eyes were sparkling with the idea that the decision was no longer in their hands.

_________________“Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize,ignore and even deny anything that doesn't fit in with the core belief."